The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Martin, Freddie, and Dolly

James and Lily sat up talking half the night - comparing thoughts about everything that had happened in such a short amount of time and discussing the pros and cons of alerting Sirius to what they had found out about Regulus. 

"Do you reckon You-Know-Who knew that it wasn't really Regulus that he dropped off at the Ministry?" Lily asked. She was laying on the bed, her back against James's chest, using his knees as arm rests as he wrapped his arms around her torso, his chin on top of her head as they talked.

James thought about the question for a moment. "I don't," he answered after a moment. "Because he's too smart for that. He would've known that Maryrose was a metamorphmangus and certainly he would've known that they change back to their natural state when they've died. If he was trying to trick us into thinking it was Regulus, he would've transfigured the body himself and it wouldn't have changed back. I think he really thought it was Regulus."

Lily said, "That makes sense. Plus, if he'd been just waiting, holding onto Maryrose all this time, her body would've... decomposed some by now. It's been months."

"Exactly. So however she ended up where she was, looking like Regulus Black, it was on purpose and it was probably from another time. Probably by Mopsus."

Lily nodded, thinking of the graveyard and of the boy she had seen there... Harry. Her heart pounded a bit harder at the memory of his face - so much like his father's... She tilted her head up toward James so she was staring at his chin. Here was a bit of a five o'clock shadow under his chin and on his jaw bone. Not a lot, but just enough. 

"So if Voldemort thinks Regulus is dead..."

"Don't say the name, James, it's creepy now, knowing what it's done to Regulus." Lily shuddered. "I can't stand to hear it anymore. Please."

"Alright. So if You Know Who, then, thinks that Regulus is dead, then that means Regulus isn't with him or any of his followers. He must've gotten away," James said.

"Then why is he being tortured? I'm sure I felt --" Lily sighed, frowning as she tried to work it out in her mind. "I don't understand what else would give him so much pain. I certainly hope it doesn't hurt that much every time You Know Who uses the dark mark to call his followers. That would be awful."

 "I mean, I'm sure it isn't a picnic."

"This was horrendous, James..." She held her arm out and looked at it. There weren't any marks or anything, but she could still trace precisely where the pain had shot across her arm. She twisted her elbow to look over the full path of where it had burned. "It felt like someone took a poker out of the floo and dragged it clear 'round my arm."

James shivered and his had reached out and took a gently hold on her arm, sliding his fingers down her forearm, over the back of her hand, and lacing his fingers through hers. "I hate that it hurt you."

"I hate that it hurt him."

"I hate that, too," James murmured, and he bowed his head so he was kissing her shoulder, his eyes  on the part of her arm that she'd described the burning in. 

They sat in silence like that for a few minutes. Rodger jumped up onto the bed and walked across the blankets, curling up in the gap between their legs and setting himself to purring lowly. James closed his eyes, just being in the moment, feeling her in his arms and the cat on their legs and the smell of the fireplace, the cold of the night outside all blue while the bedroom was warm orange-red.

"Why do you think Regulus hasn't come to tell us he's alright himself?" Lily asked.

"Dunno."

"I mean, if he isn't with You Know Who, he could come and solve it all in minutes... Why hasn't he?"